1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reclaimed ceramic starting material produced from scrap generated in a method for producing a cordierite ceramic body and to a method for producing a cordierite ceramic body by using the reclaimed ceramic starting material.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cordierite ceramics have excellent heat characteristics such that the heat resistance is high and, at the same time, the coefficient of thermal expansion is stably low over a wide temperature range. By making good use of such heat characteristics, cordierite ceramic bodies having a honeycomb structure are being developed as a support of a catalyst for removing harmful substances such as HC, CO and NOx from the exhaust gas of internal combustion engine.
In producing this cordierite ceramic body, a method of introducing a binder into a virgin starting material powder to form a slurry, molding the slurry, drying it to obtain a dried molded article and calcining the dried molded article to produce a cordierite ceramic body is conventionally well known.
On the other hand, in the method for producing a cordierite ceramic body, effective utilization of scraps, defectives, and the like, generated in the molding process is demanded in view of reduction in the starting material cost or resource conservation.
To meet this requirement, a method for producing a cordierite ceramic body by utilizing a reclaimed ceramic starting material obtained by reclaiming a dried material before calcining in the above-described production process has been proposed. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,851,376.